Books I might like to read.... Recommendations from KS

Recommended by KS
Chasing the Light - Jesse Blackadder.  Fictional account of a true story.  A woman adventuring to Antarctica.  Could be interesting.

The Light Between Oceans - ML Stedman.  A lighthouse keeper and his wife discover a dead man and living baby washed up in a boat on their island... meant to be really well written.  Yes! I'm interested!)

The Son - Philipp Meyer.  Late 1800's Texas , America.  Family saga spanning a couple of centuries...White settlers, Comanche (Native Americans), world war I, Mexican, oil fields, land barons etc etc - might be ok.

Secrets of the Tides - Hannah Richelle.  Family drama with dark, suspenseful undercurrent.  Might be worth a read.

Questions of Travel - Michelle de Kretser.  This book won this year's Miles Franklin Award, the main themes from what I can gather are travel, modern ideals and relationships, and her style is creative and quirky.  Also I've read another one of hers, The Lost Dog, and enjoyed it from what I can remember...This is high on my list!

An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon .CRINGE! NO WAY!  The 7th book in a series of fantasy novels from what I can gather.  Not my style.

A Little History of the World - EH Gombrich.  Non-fiction.  Seems to be literally what the title promises... Benji might like it.

Various Pets Alive and Dead - Marina Lewycka.  I've read 2 others We are all Made of Glue and A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian.  Both are light, mildly humorous, but perhaps a little tacky/tasteless... might be ok for an easy/lazy holiday read.

Thornwood House - Anna Romer

In Thornwood House, Audrey Kepler, is bequeathed a big old homestead in rural Queensland by her ex-boyfriend, the father of her eleven year old daughter.  She leaves her Melbourne life and home behind and together with her daughter moves into the homestead - Thornwood House. 

Audrey then proceeds to unravel various mysteries involving the previous inhabitants of Thornwood House - her daughter's ancestors.

As she delves deeper into the past, Audrey, who could be described as either bloody nosy, or full of passion about her new home and it's old stories and the people who lived there, immerses herself into the lives of her ex's past, solves the various mysteries of his family and even finds love along the way.  (Groan - shades of Alex Miller's Journey to the Stone Country... no, no, no, not as bad as that!)


I really, really wanted to love this book...

It's set in the Scenic Rim, the location of our own block of land and soon to be home. I got really excited when I recognised the description of "Magpie Creek", the fictitious town where Audrey and her daughter have come to live, obviously based on our own little town!

"...we entered the wide dusty streets of Magpie Creek.  Passing a huge wirework sculpture of a horse we hooked through a roundabout and entered a tree-lined avenue.  An elderly couple sat on the verandah of a classic old pub, but otherwise the town appeared deserted.  I counted two bottle shops, a BP service station, a Caltex service station, four tiny cafes, and a quaint little post office."

My other connection to this book is the fact that Benj and I actually stumbled upon its launch  in the real Magpie Creek one Sunday afternoon after a day working on our block!  Author Anna Romer was there at our favourite little cafe signing copies of her debut novel!

...but I didn't love this book.  I certainly didn't hate it, but it's just not a book I feel a great deal of passion about.  It had the bones of a good story... but the writing style was a little too bland, the plot and it's twists a little too obvious, the love interest a little too cringe-worthy and some of the story lines a little too far fetched. 

Having said all that I did enjoy reading Thornwood House.  It's an easy read, one you will want to tear through to see if you are right in your assumptions about the "twists" (if you're like me you will be).  A good book for a lazy Sunday arvo.

Two stars.

Who's Sorry Now? - Howard Jacobson

Two old friends: one in love with women and having affairs all over the place; the other loves just one woman his wife... they each try to convince the other that thier sexual philosophy is the better... blah blah blah...

I didn't finish this one.  The story seemed not  to be going anywhere, I couldn't relate to either man and I didn't actually like them either... not that you have to like the characters but I just felt I would learn nothing and be no better off for reading this book...I think the author might have been trying to be funny, but I really just didn't connect with the humour (or lack of it).  There are so many great books out there I'm not going to waste my time on a pair of dicks.

No stars. (Did not finish)

Tony Hogan bought me and Ice Cream Float before he Stole My Ma - Kerry Hudson

Lower class life in Scotland has some harsh realities... and Kerry Hudson (who according to her bio lived it pretty hard herself) writes about it extremely well.  She is funny, self-mocking, light hearted and sentimental.  Right from the first paragraph I was hooked:

"Get out you cunting, shitting, little fucking fucker!" were the first words I ever heard.  The midwife, as shiny-faced woman who learned entirely new turns of phrase that night, smoothed ma's hair."

What follows is a journey through the life of Janie Ryan as she struggles through her world of hostels, foster homes, housing estates, poor houses and B&B's (not the touristy kind) rubbing shoulders with drunks, junkies, thieves and foul mouthed wife beaters... many of these are her family members. 

It's a rough life and yet the voice of Janie remains for the most part, heart-breakingly innocent and hopeful.  Yes there are hilarious parts where I did actually laugh out loud, but I found this book intensely sad.  I read a comment somewhere about this book that said it was uplifting.  For me it wasn't, not really.  I kept hoping it would be, but the turning point comes when poor, lovely little Janie first swears at and slaps her baby sister, you know then that she's turning out just like her ma... it just illustrated to me how the cycle continues... that sometimes no matter how innocent a poor little child is, if they're exposed to a certain type of behaviour, inevitably they learn to mimic it.  I find it sad how unconditionally a child will love it's parent when that parent is doing a really awful job of providing unconditional love and care back... but it's not that simple...that poor parent is struggling through so much of their own shit (which they've probably learned from their parents, and their parents and their parents) and they just don't know how to deal with being a parent, then there's unemployment, bullying, drugs and alcohol.

Tony Hogan bought me an Ice Cream is a pretty harsh look at the reality of life in some of the poorest and most disenfranchised parts of Scotland but it's not all bad - there are moments of real love, loyalty and respect which shine through and make you want to keep reading.  I enjoyed how real this book felt (including the Scottish slang) and I really liked Janie - how she just keeps trying to survive in what really is a pretty fucked up life.

Three and three quarter stars.